Training with the Grand Old Duke of York

This post will focus on how to get the most out of nature’s subscription-free treadmill, the great outdoors. If you’re looking for a fast, fun training session that bruns more calories than your old routine…try this.

On first thought you’d probably relate running up and down a hill numerous times with a regime that includes eating raw meat or being yelled at by a Sergeant Major. In actual fact it can be a more fun and interesting way of burning a load of calories, whilst vastly improving your fitness as well as benefiting nearly all sports.

So what do you need? Simply, training shoes and a hill. A stopwatch is also useful. (I’m assuming you’re already wearing clothes!) The Hill doesn’t need to be Everest-style steep but should be a challenge. Depending on your fitness levels, try a pavement hill first and in the future you could try an off-road hill as a progression.

If you’re not using a stop watch choose a hill that takes roughly 60-120 seconds to get to the top. Run up the hill as fast as you can at a sustained pace, i.e. don’t start at the bottom like a Hare and reach the top like a Tortoise. The pace should be even. Jog slowly or walk down, rest 30 seconds, then go again.

If you’re trying these for the first time look to do four repetitions (runs) up the hill. If you’re used to running, do six repetitions and skip the 30 seconds rest at the bottom. Make sure you do an adequate warm up beforehand and at the end have a good cool down and stretch. Enjoy!